Harry stared down at his hands. They looked so distant, so alien that he wasn't even sure if they were his. He felt… horrible, to say the least. A fellow student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that he had come to respect and admire was dead because of him. Cedric Diggory had died because of him. His future, hopes, friends, family, everything had been cruelly wrenched away from Cedric Diggory. Everything… including Cho Chang.
Harry sighed as he buried his face into his pillow. Here he was, the man responsible for the death of her boy friend and yet he was already thinking about how much he liked her. "I'm such git… Cedric just died because of me and I'm already thinking about his girlfriend?" Harry looked up as he heard the creak of the infirmary's doors. What little strength Harry had managed to regain drained away as he saw Cho Chang walking towards him. He could practically hear his heart zooming into overdrive. He was sure not even his Firebolt could have kept up with the pace his heart was beating at.
As he struggled to regain his composure Harry noticed that Cho wasn't wearing the standard black robes of Hogwarts students, she was wearing a simple black dress. He could tell that she had been crying. Even though he could see the fresh tear marks on her face, they did nothing to mar her beauty. Her long, raven black hair rippled like water as it cascaded around her. The simple black dress didn't make her appear common; instead, the dress enhanced her natural attractiveness. Harry's breath caught in his chest, to him; at the very least, Cho was nothing short of perfect.
"Cho… I'm-" choked Harry before she shushed him.
Cho sat down next to Harry's bed and studied him for what seemed like ages. Harry shifted uncomfortably underneath Cho's gaze. Until now Professor Dumbledore was the only who seemed to see right through him. Right now, Harry felt like Cho was staring into the very depths of his soul.
"Harry, I want to hear it from you. What happened last night?" whispered Cho.
"Cho… I don't think that this is the best time." Said Harry.
"Harry please, I need to know what happened." Said Cho her eyes glinting fiercely with determination.
At the sight of new tears forming in her eyes, all resistance within Harry crumpled. Cursing himself for being so weak Harry slowly nodded. As he recounted the events of that fateful night Cho's expression changed from shock, to fear, and then; Harry though he saw the flicker of a teary smile when he told her about them deciding on who would grab the cup, to anguished pain when he told her how Cedric died, to awe, and finally to understanding.
"Did…did he feel any pain?" breathed Cho.
"I don't think so. His face just seemed surprised, not in pain, not in fear. Just…surprised." Replied Harry as he looked down. With a jolt, he realized that while he was talking to Cho he had cupped her hand in his own. As Cho followed his gaze the Asian beauty's face tinted to a slight pink as she broke the contact.
"Harry are you ok?" came a voice through the infirmary doors.
"Be quiet Ron! He's probably sleeping! I swear you're so tactless some times." Said a female voice.
"Ouch! Why'd you have to hit me Hermione!"
"Shut it!"
As Ron and Hermione burst through the infirmary doors they stopped dead in their tracks as they saw what appeared to be an intimate scene between Harry and Cho. Both knew that Harry had been nurturing a crush on Cho Chang since second year. "Right…sorry bout that mate… Well, eh hem We'll just go…" said Ron meekly as he dragged Hermione back through the door.
If Cho had been blushing before it was nothing to the shade of crimson her face was now. Harry was apologize profusely for his friends, but that only seemed to make matters worse. Half of him was furious that Ron and Hermione had walked in on him like this, but the other half was relieved, who knows how he might have embarrassed himself.
"Thank you Harry. I…appreciate you telling me. I know it must've been… hard." Said Cho as she swallowed.
"Er, yeah no problem." Replied Harry sheepishly.
"Well, I better go… I hope you get better soon Harry."
As Cho turned to leave, Harry went against his better judgment and called out to her. "Cho! If- If you just need to talk… you can always come to me." Said Harry, mentally praying that it hadn't come out like the incoherent stream of sounds he thought he said. Cho flashed him an uncertain smile before walking out the door. After Cho left Ron burst into the room dragging an exasperated Hermione in by the wrist.
"So? What'd she want mate?" asked Ron eagerly. It had barely been a minute since Cho had left when Ron had burst pell-mell into the room determined to suck Harry dry of information.
"Ron! Leave him alone! That's none of your business." snapped Hermione as she glanced back at him after shooting a dirty look at Ron.
"What? It's not like they were snogging-" was all Ron could manage to say before Hermione started whacking him with a copy of "Hogwarts, A History" and Harry turned bright scarlet.
"So how long are you going to have to stay in the Infirmary? Did Madam Pomfrey say?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah. She reckons that I'll have to stay until the end of the week." sighed Harry. "Truthfully, I don't want to leave. Everyone is going to be whispering and staring, and pointing. Again."
"But you'll get to see Cho, and everyone else. Fred and George won't admitted it but I know they're worried mate. Dean, Seamus and Neville won't stop asking about you." stated Ron with a brief moment of maturity.
"But how many of them are going to treat me like a freak?" groaned Harry as he sank back into the inviting warmth of his bed.
That night as Harry tried to sleep his thoughts inevitably turned to Cho. He replayed that moment in time when he had held her hand a thousand times. He tried to recall every detail. The feel of her hand against his, how warm her hand had felt in comparison with his.
As Harry James Potter drifted off into sleep, a small smile graced his face.
The next four months were certainly going to be interesting.